


The Photograph

by ACamp_toner



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, bechloe - Freeform, staubrey - Freeform, unestablished
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23249311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ACamp_toner/pseuds/ACamp_toner
Summary: It's been 4.5 years but I'M BACK PITCHES / Bellas are new, Aubrey it too focused on the group to notice them as individuals until something happens, and Beca and Chloe are getting closer too. / Uh, just read this. I can't describe it. Rating will change in later chapters.
Relationships: Chloe Beale & Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell, Stacie Conrad & Aubrey Posen, Stacie Conrad/Aubrey Posen
Comments: 26
Kudos: 83





	1. Chapter 1

"Bree, are you ready to go?" Chloe walked into the living room of the house she shared with Aubrey and found the blonde with her legs curled underneath her on the couch, scrolling through her phone.

Aubrey opened her mouth to answer but stopped when she looked up and saw her roommate. Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you look like that?"

"Like what?" Chloe's voice was innocent but she briefly averted her eyes.

"You're wearing a full face of makeup and the tightest jeans you own." Aubrey adjusted her position to stretch out her legs before standing. She went to a mirror hanging by their door as she started pulling her hair into a messy bun. "Those are not going to be comfortable at the movies. Who are you trying to impress?"

"I'm not trying to impress anyone!" Chloe crossed her arms in front of herself and let out an exasperated sigh. She started tapping her foot. "Are you ready?"

Aubrey finished tying her hair and looked at the watch on her wrist. "If we leave now we're going to be too early. Even for me." Usually it was Aubrey pushing Chloe out the door so they're not late.

"I have a super small errand I need to run so we need to leave a little earlier." There was that innocent tone again.

Aubrey frowned. "Can't it wait?" Chloe bit her lip and shook her head. "What could you possibly have to do on our way to the movies that can't wait?"

Chloe smiled brightly and started shifting her weight from leg to leg. "We just need to swing by Baker Hall and grab Beca's textbook from her dorm and bring it to the radio station."

Aubrey had turned to grab her hoodie from the back of a chair but, after hearing Chloe's words, spun quickly to face her. "Excuse me?" Chloe kept her smile bright despite the intense look on Aubrey's face. "How the hell did that happen?"

"I bumped into her at the beginning of her shift. She realized she forgot her book and started freaking out because she has a test tomorrow. I offered to grab it because I knew we were going back that way." Chloe shrugged. Aubrey stood there staring at her. "It's no big deal, Bree! It will take two seconds."

Aubrey closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. No wonder the redhead was dressed to kill. "Chloe, I don't think you can say you-" the blonde hooked her fingers in air quotes, "- _bumped into_ someone when you went to their place of employment."

Chloe grinned as she grabbed Aubrey's hand and tugged her out the door. Aubrey jerked her hand out of Chloe's grasp and crossed her arms over her chest while she walked. Chloe glanced at her best friend, noticing her clenched jaw and hard foreward stare.

She lightly bumped Aubrey's shoulder with her own. "Don't be so grumpy." Aubrey kept walking and didn't respond. Chloe rolled her eyes. "If this was anyone else you wouldn't even care. You just hate Beca."

"I don't hate Beca," Aubrey said a bit too forcefully. "I just don't like her attitude."

The new group of Bellas had only been rehearsing for about a month but it was clear to anyone present that Aubrey and Beca had a hard time seeing eye to eye. Aubrey knew they were going to have to make it work somehow, especially given Chloe's fondness for the tiny alt girl. As they continued to walk, Aubrey idly wondered if Chloe realized how obvious her crush was to everyone. Everyone, that is, except maybe clueless Beca.

When they reached Baker Hall, Aubrey followed Chloe into the dorm building and trailed her as she walked with familiar ease around bends in the hall until she stopped in front of a door. Chloe knocked in case Beca's roommate was home but when no one answered she started searching her pockets for the key Beca had given her earlier.

"You've been here before."

Chloe found the key and paused for a second on her way to unlocking the door. "So have you."

Aubrey rolled her eyes, remembering when they had to get Beca for her initiation into the Bellas. "You've been here more than once."

Chloe opened the door and entered Beca's room, choosing to ignore Aubrey's statement. Aubrey narrowed her eyes at Chloe's back before following her into the room. The blonde looked around the small space, seeing it for the first time in the light of day. A desk covered in mixing equipment indicated what side of the room was Beca's. Aubrey looked at her unmade bed and the tangle of sheets towards the end. It wasn't as messy as she thought it would be but it wasn't tidy either. Aubrey looked to the other side of the room with appreciation for Beca's roommate's perfectly made bed and neat belongings. Even the stacks of books on the desk and nightstand looked like they were exactly where they belonged.

Aubrey drifted towards that side of the room and lightly trailed her fingers across the books on the nightstand. It briefly occurred to her that she was invading someone's privacy but she shrugged off the thought. She didn't even want to be here and she didn't know Beca's roommate anyway. Aubrey scanned the titles of the books and her eyes widened slightly. The books were all fairly heavy material, not light bedtime reads. The thick book resting closest to the bed, the one that had a bookmark sticking out about a quarter of the way through it, was one of Aubrey's favorites: Atlas Shrugged. Aubrey resisted the urge to open the book at the bookmark to see exactly where in the 1,000+ page book the roommate was.

Aubrey moved away from the nightstand, traveling along the bed, and noticed the handmade crocheted blanket folded neatly at the foot. Her lips turned up slightly when she thought about a similar blanket she had on her own bed that her grandmother had made for her when she was born. Aubrey continued casually walking toward the back of the room, looking at the items on the dresser as she passed. She wanted to smell the different perfumes that were neatly arranged but stopped herself just before taking one. Her attention shifted briefly to Chloe who was rifling through Beca's things and making an even bigger mess. Chloe threw her hands up in the air. "She said it was right on her bed!"

Aubrey smiled to herself at the slight annoyance she heard in Chloe's voice. She made it to the back of the room and turned from Chloe to scan the belongings on the roommate's desk. Unlike Beca, her roommate knew what a desk was supposed to be used for. Aubrey lifted up the left side of a textbook that was laying open so she could read the title, careful not to disturb the notebook that was partly resting on it. Her brow furrowed slightly when she saw it was for advanced chemistry. She wondered when the college started matching students from different grade levels to be roommates. She would have been so angry if a freshman walked into her dorm room on the first day of her junior or senior year. Maybe it was just a perk of having your father work for the college. Aubrey imagined anti-social Beca would want a quiet and studious roommate who wouldn't be interested in the usual partying antics that overcome most freshmen. From the looks of it, it seemed Beca lucked out on finding a roommate who would just coexist with her. Based on reading material alone, Aubrey couldn't imagine they had anything in common.

Aubrey's eyes moved to scan the pinboard above the desk. It was full of pictures, movie stubs and enamel pins. In the top left corner was a worn and slightly faded blue first place ribbon from a 4th grade science fair. Aubrey's eyes continued to roam but they suddenly stilled on a photo at the bottom of the board, eye level to anyone sitting at the desk. She recognized the brunette in the picture right away and confusion flitted across her face. It was a candid photo that caught Stacie's profile as she stood casually, her thumb hooked in the pocket of her jeans, her body leaning slightly towards someone and a small grin tugging at the corner of her lips. Aubrey took it in before her gaze finally shifted to the other person in the picture.

"Found it!" Chloe shouted triumphantly but Aubrey barely heard her.

"Why does Beca have this?"

Chloe was quickly trying to right some of the mess she had made in her search for the book but looked up at Aubrey's tone. She found the blonde frozen, her stance rigid as she stared intently at a photo tacked above the desk.

"That's not Beca's," Chloe said, frowning as she stood up.

Aubrey turned her head toward the redhead, her eyes leaving the photo for the first time since she saw it. "What do you mean?" Confusion was evident in her voice.

"Beca wouldn't have anything over there, it isn't her side of the room," Chloe said as she moved to stand by Aubrey and see what she was looking at.

Chloe's eyes widened as she looked at the picture of Stacie and Aubrey, one that she hadn't ever seen but could tell was taken during their Aca-Initiation party a month earlier. Aubrey's head was slightly thrown back mid-laugh, her hand touching Stacie's arm. Stacie was just barely leaning towards her and there was a small grin on her face. It wasn't the grin Chloe was used to seeing from her, not the confident smirk of a grin, but one that was more gentle and coy. The brunette looked utterly transfixed by Aubrey or by Aubrey's laugh, or both.

Like Aubrey, Chloe was confused about the picture. She looked over as the blonde reached out and lightly touched the edge of the photo. "It's Stacie's."

"What?" Aubrey jerked her hand back and turned her head quickly toward Chloe. "What do you mean? Stacie doesn't live here."

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, she does." Aubrey's brows furrowed and Chloe knew she was remembering when they went to pull Stacie from her dorm for initiation. "She switched with Beca's old roommate a few weeks ago," Chloe explained. "This is all Stacie's stuff."

Aubrey's eyes glanced over Stacie's side of the room as she turned back to the photo, still feeling confused. "Where did she get this?" And why, Aubrey thought to herself, did Stacie choose to pin it up on display? She figured all the new Bellas hated her; she hadn't exactly been making things easy on them. Aubrey reluctantly took her eyes off the photo again to quickly scan the rest of the board but there weren't any other pictures with any of the Bellas.

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know but it sure is cute." She smiled softly at the picture and wondered if the photographer knew that they had captured something rare. It's not easy to pull that reaction out of Aubrey. "What made you laugh?" Chloe asked, curious to know how Stacie, as an almost complete stranger, had managed to elicit a reaction that Chloe, as her best friend, couldn't normally get out of her.

Aubrey slowly shook her head. "I don't know. I can't remember."

* * *

Aubrey distractedly followed Chloe outside and towards the radio station. She was searching her memory in an attempt to replay every interaction she's ever had with Stacie since she first saw her on stage during auditions. Aubrey had been so focused over the past month with taking her little gang of misfits and trying to mold them into a group that had a shot at winning ICCAs that she didn't take the time to really notice the new Bellas as individuals. Still, Aubrey couldn't reconcile the Stacie she had seen at rehearsals with the person she had imagined when she looked at Beca's roommate's side of the room.

Aubrey thought back to the books on Stacie's nightstand and the textbook she was studying out of for class. It really would not be any kind of fair for Stacie to be that gorgeous and also extremely smart. Aubrey felt heat on her cheeks when it dawned on her that she thought of Stacie as gorgeous. She shook her head slightly. Anyone could see that Stacie is gorgeous, it's nothing that should make Aubrey's stomach flutter.

Aubrey brought her hand up to touch her warm cheek and was suddenly transported back to the moment she watched Stacie audition for the Bellas. Stacie was singing in a voice that Aubrey now knew was unlike her actual singing voice while her hands roamed over her body. Without thinking, Aubrey had let her eyes travel down Stacie's body and felt her cheeks warm when she noticed she had lost focus on the audition.

"Aubrey?" Aubrey looked around and realized she was standing in front of the doors that would lead to the radio station.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and saw Chloe staring at her. "Hm?"

Chloe tilted her head slightly, a small, teasing smile playing on her lips. It was evident that Aubrey hadn't heard anything Chloe had said in the past 10 minutes. But she knew Aubrey well enough to know she couldn't push the blonde right now without her shutting down completely.

"You coming in?" Chloe asked.

"I have no interest in ruining my one day off of rehearsals by interacting with Beca Mitchell."

Chloe rolled her eyes and said she would be right back. Aubrey watched the ginger skip toward the door and wondered how she managed to become best friends with this ball of energetic sunlight.

Aubrey turned and leaned over to rest her elbows on the railing that separated the walkway with the grassy expanse of the campus quad. There were groups sprawled over the grass studying and bookbag clad students cutting through on their way to or from class. Aubrey watched without really seeing, her mind still preoccupied with images of Stacie. She thought back to the photo above Stacie's desk, wishing she had snapped a picture of it just to be able to see it again. She absentmindedly twirled a ring on her right index finger while she tried with all her might to remember the night of the Bellas initiation.

She was just attempting to latch onto wisps of a memory when something in the real world caught her attention. Her eyes were drawn to the familiar gait of someone walking in the distance and Aubrey felt her pulse speed up. What were the odds? Stacie was walking across the quad toward the dorms, her path perpendicular to where Aubrey was facing. She looked so different than she did when Aubrey saw her in rehearsals. Her long brown hair was loose and flowing around her shoulders instead of tied up and she was wearing jeans instead of exercise clothing. She looked more like the Stacie in the photo.

Aubrey watched as Stacie got closer but felt safe that she would still be a distance away when the brunette passed where she was leaning on the railing. Stacie's thumbs were hooked on the straps of her backpack by her hips and her head was turned towards Aubrey. She was paying attention to something being said by the guy she was walking with. Aubrey was aware that Stacie's eyes hardly had to shift for the younger girl to spot her standing there. She truly couldn't decide if she wanted Stacie to see her or not but she couldn't look away.

It wasn't until she saw Stacie laugh that Aubrey let herself wonder who it was the younger girl was walking with.

* * *

Chloe watched Beca through the glass as the brunette fiddled with the equipment in the small space that housed the core of the radio station. Her head was slightly bopping to the beat of the music that Chloe could hear only because it was playing throughout the rest of the store via speaker.

Chloe waved her hand in front of the glass to catch Beca's attention. The brunette looked up and Chloe's heart skipped when Beca gave her a grin. Chloe was motioned into the room as Beca finished whatever she was doing.

"Thanks, Chlo. You're a lifesaver," Beca said as she stood up and took the textbook from Chloe. Chloe didn't miss Beca's eyes trailing down her body to where her jeans hugged her hips.

"You owe me. This was not at all where you said it would be." Chloe grinned as she watched Beca pull her gaze back up to Chloe's face. The brunette's cheeks colored just slightly. Chloe chose to ignore it as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I sort of made a mess looking for it."

Beca scratched the back of her neck and bit her lip. "Oops?"

Chloe found herself glancing at Beca's lips, something she had been doing more and more often lately. She looked up and found Beca's eyes on her and realized she had been caught.

Chloe moved her eyes off Beca to look around the room as she leaned back against the doorframe. "So, I've been meaning to ask you," Chloe said in such a casual way that Beca knew immediately it was anything but. "How is it rooming with Stacie?"

Beca paused as she was placing the book down and looked at Chloe questioningly. She brought her hand up to scratch the back of her neck again, a nervous habit that Chloe thought was adorable. "Uh, fine?"

"Do you know if she's into girls?"

Beca's brow furrowed as she frowned and let her hand fall heavily from the back of her neck to her side. Chloe saw something hard to read flash across Beca's eyes before she looked away and shrugged. "Why don't you ask her?" There was something tight and tense in her tone of voice.

Chloe looked confused for a second before her eyes went wide. "Oh! No, no, no," Chloe said hurriedly, waving her hands and shaking her head. "I'm not into Stacie." (Later she'd let herself feel a sort of giddiness at Beca's reaction and what it could mean but in the moment she just felt panicked to clear up the misunderstanding.)

Beca's posture relaxed just slightly but she looked at Chloe warily as if she wasn't sure whether to believe her.

Chloe hadn't planned on mentioning the photo but she found herself rushing on, "She has a picture of her and Aubrey! Why does she have a picture of her and Aubrey?"

Beca's eyes lost their wariness as her eyebrows shot up. "Dude," she hissed. "You looked through Stacie's stuff?"

"What? No! It's pinned out in the open above her desk for anyone to see!"

Beca closed her eyes and pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. "Look, you can't let Stacie know you saw that. She's so weird about it and I'm, like, sworn to secrecy that it even exists. She usually puts it away when she's not at her desk." She let her hand drop to her side again.

Chloe took a step towards Beca and leaned in closer to her. "Does Stacie like Aubrey?" she asked in an excited whisper, even though no one was around to hear them.

"Sworn to secrecy! And I don't ask questions." Beca sliced her hands across the air in a gesture of finality as she plopped down heavily in her seat with a sigh. "I can't imagine why she would," Beca grumbled. "Just because she's hot?"

Chloe had been about to swat Beca's shoulder when she stopped and quirked an eyebrow. "You think Aubrey's hot?"

Beca's face turned red. "No! That's not… no. No." Chloe watched with an amused smirk as Beca squirmed. "Dude, no! I don't!" Chloe continued to look at Beca with a teasing glint in her eye. Beca huffed out a breath. "I mean, she's not _not_ hot. Like purely just as an observation. When she isn't speaking." Chloe dramatically gasped and then chuckled as Beca groaned and dropped her head to the table.

"Okay, we're definitely going to come back to that at some point but I, unfortunately, have to go," Chloe said teasingly and laughed when Beca groaned again. She was surprised she didn't feel her stomach twist with jealousy about Beca finding Aubrey hot but the idea of Beca liking Aubrey in almost any way was just so ludicrous that Chloe couldn't take it seriously. And Aubrey _is_ hot.

"How about we not come back to that. Ever," Beca mumbled into the table before lifting her head. "Seriously though, don't say anything to Stacie about the picture. Please, Chlo."

"Okay, okay." Beca looked relieved. "But-" Beca tensed and Chloe started wringing her hands together. "I'm not the only one who saw it."

"What do you…" Beca stopped in realization. "No." Chloe grimaced. "You brought Aubrey into my room?!"

"If your book had been where you said it would be, she wouldn't even have had a chance to look around!"

"Oh my god. Stacie is going to murder me. I'm going to die."

"Oh, stop. Aubrey isn't going to say anything. What would she even say?" Chloe leaned over and kissed Beca on the cheek as a distraction before turning to leave.

The older girl took a few steps and looked over her shoulder as she went through the doorway. She smirked at the dazed brunette. "Bye Becs."


	2. Chapter 2

Aubrey grabbed her phone off the nightstand and turned off the alarm before it could sound. She rolled to her back and stared up at the ceiling, wishing she could turn off her mind for just a second. She blew out a breath of air as she ran her fingers through her hair.

It had taken her forever to fall asleep and she was only asleep for what felt like seconds before she startled out of a dream and hadn't had any luck sleeping again since. She had remembered the dream so vividly in the first moments of being awake before it started disappearing as dreams tend to do, leaving her with tiny fragments that continued to blur as time went on.

She was with Stacie (because _of course_ Stacie would appear in her dream). Stacie was just as she had been when Aubrey saw her earlier in the day, walking across the quad, only now Aubrey was at her side walking with her. She can't remember what they were talking about but she does remember how she felt comfortable, relaxed in a way that Aubrey has never actually felt in real life.

Aubrey squeezed her eyes shut and latched onto a dream fragment, her mind conjuring up Stacie, the brunette walking close to her and looking at her with a smile and a sparkle in her eye. Stacie laughed and Aubrey wished she could hear the sound. Stacie let her hand drop from where it was hooked on the strap of her backpack so that it was hanging at her side as she moved slightly closer to Aubrey, causing the backs of their hands to graze each other.

Aubrey's eyes snapped open and she forced her body to get up and go through the motions of preparing for a run. She needed to _do_ something to get out of her head. She wondered what the hell her problem was and how on earth a stupid photo managed to cause such a disruption. Even if it was a really cute photo - a photo that seemed, to Aubrey, to be placed carefully enough so that it was exactly eye level as Stacie sat studying and the blonde found herself imagining that Stacie's eyes drifted to it often when she started getting stressed with her homework or was stuck on a problem or just needed a second to refocus. Aubrey shook the faint smile off her face in an exasperated motion as she put in her earbuds and turned the volume up high enough that she could focus on nothing but the music.

* * *

Chloe watched Aubrey discreetly out of the corner of her eye as they walked to rehearsal, careful to make sure she wouldn't notice that she was being observed. Chloe could feel the anxious energy coming in waves off the blonde. She's used to Aubrey being uptight and stressed but this was something different. Aubrey had been distracted since she saw that photo and Chloe was just trying to figure out what was going through her mind and what she could do to help her along. Chloe was sure that Aubrey was a lost cause without her.

First things first, Chloe wanted to get Aubrey out of her own head. Nothing good comes from her staying alone up there for too long.

Chloe grabbed Aubrey's hand and started swinging their arms playfully in between them, not letting Aubrey pull her hand away when she tried. Aubrey hated holding hands with anyone and Chloe knew that more than anyone else because Chloe loved holding hands and tried often but even when Aubrey was drunk and more affectionate, she still didn't tolerate hand holding.

"What are you doing?" Aubrey questioned as she looked at their linked hands. She tried to tug her hand away again but the ginger tightened her grip.

"Trying to get you to pay attention to me," Chloe said with a pout. "Whatcha thinking about?"

Aubrey reached up with her free hand to smooth the already smooth hair in her ponytail - something she did compulsively when she was nervous. She tugged her hand hard, finally succeeding in breaking it from Chloe's grip. She slid her arm across her body to hug her waist so her hand was as far away from Chloe's reach as she could manage.

"I'm just thinking about all the work we have to do to get these Bellas ready for a real performance," Aubrey said lightly.

"We'll get there." Chloe skipped up to the door of their rehearsal space. "We've already come so far!" Chloe turned to grin at Aubrey as she grabbed the handle of the door but one look told her she had already lost the blonde, who was staring straight ahead at the now open entrance. Chloe watched her take a deep breath before crossing the threshold.

Aubrey marched to the front of the room without looking around to see who was already present. She swung off her backpack and opened it to grab the binder inside. The binder was a Bellas bible of sorts. It was packed full of music, choreography, rehearsal tips and various activities to urge group cohesiveness. Aubrey kept her back to the room and flipped through the binder as if she was looking for something but she wasn't even paying attention.

Stacie had already been in the room when Aubrey and Chloe walked in. She had been talking to Fat Amy but her eyes tracked the blonde as she made her way to the front of the room. Something seemed off about the Bella leader. And the way Chloe stood there staring after her confirmed Stacie's suspicion that something was up.

Aubrey finally turned and surveyed the room. Stacie had watched Aubrey do this almost daily for a month. Her eyes always started with Stacie and eventually came back around and ended with Stacie, without fail. It always made her heart swell. Stacie's brow furrowed as Aubrey's eyes skipped over her and didn't return.

The blonde eventually got into her regular groove as the Bella leader and she was able to almost block out any outside thoughts. Her eyes kept drifting toward Stacie but Aubrey was able to avoid any direct looks. After an extensive warm-up she got the girls working on choreography. She was taking a sip of water and looking at the binder for real this time when Chloe approached her.

"You need to deal with Stacie."

Aubrey coughed on the water she was swallowing. "What?"

"Look!" Chloe pointed towards the brunette and Aubrey took a real look at Stacie for the first time that rehearsal period. She was hitting all the proper markers with her bottom half but her arms were all off as her hands touched all over her body.

Aubrey set down her water bottle with a huff and stomped over to Stacie, immediately in fix-it mode.

"Stacie!"

The brunette stopped her moves and looked at Aubrey, grinning innocently.

Aubrey crossed her arms with a frown. "Do it again."

Aubrey ignored Stacie's smirk as she started moving through the choreography sequence. The brunette's hands moved suggestively over her body for several seconds before Aubrey reached out and grabbed her. She ignored the spark she felt as she touched Stacie's skin. "No."

Stacie looked down at Aubrey's hands on her arms and looked up again, her eyes sparkling mischievously. Aubrey quickly let go of Stacie's arms and crossed her own over her front, commanding Stacie to start over. Stacie did and the second her arms started going off course again, Aubrey reached out and corrected them. She did this several times before she noticed Stacie was biting her lip to suppress a laugh.

"You're doing this on purpose!" Aubrey said incredulously as she stepped back.

Stacie let out a low chuckle that made Aubrey's stomach flip. The brunette looked directly at Aubrey, started the sequence again and completed it flawlessly, better than Aubrey had seen from any of the others. Stacie finished with a flirty shrug as she winked at Aubrey.

Aubrey's mouth opened in flustered shock as she tried to figure out how to respond but before she got a chance, Chloe was calling everyone's attention to the front of the room. Stacie grinned at Aubrey again, brushing her shoulder against Aubrey's as she went to take her normal place over by Beca.

Aubrey stayed rooted in place off to the side of the room, vaguely aware that Chloe was addressing the group. She blinked several times before she started moving to the front, finally keying in on what Chloe was saying.

"... and so Aubrey and I would love to have you all come over to our place tomorrow night. We'll provide the food and drinks. Just show up!" Chloe grinned and an excited murmur went through the group as everyone started gathering their things to leave.

Aubrey quickly approached Chloe. "What the hell, Chloe?" Aubrey hissed.

"What?" Chloe asked innocently.

"You can't just invite all these people over to our place without asking me!"

"I _did_ ask you. Don't you remember?" Aubrey looked confused. "I asked on the way home from the movies and you agreed and then I asked if you were even listening to me!"

"Oh." Aubrey chewed her bottom lip. "Oh yeah. I must have forgotten."

Chloe knew Aubrey didn't forget because Chloe knew she had never actually asked but she figured Aubrey deserved it for ignoring her over the past several conversations. If Aubrey was going to stop paying attention to what she was saying, Chloe was certainly going to use it to her advantage.

* * *

Aubrey caught herself staring out the window for what seemed like the hundredth time in so many minutes. She was curled up on a cushioned bench in a cozy window seat nook in the kitchen. Her back was against one end of the bench at the wall and her knees were pulled up close to her body. It was Aubrey's favorite place in the whole house to read. She looked down at the book resting against her legs and read the same page for the fifth time, trying hard to concentrate.

Aubrey had already cleaned and prepared drinks and snacks and whatever else she could think of in anticipation of the Bellas arrival. Since they probably wouldn't show up for another hour, Aubrey thought she could distract herself by reading but it wasn't working.

Aubrey heard Chloe fiddling with the speaker system and suddenly music filled all the common rooms in the house. It was a pretty impressive set-up and the blonde had a sneaking suspicion that Beca had something to do with it. She wondered how many times Beca had been in her space without her knowing - and worried that Chloe felt she couldn't tell her.

Aubrey sighed and placed her bookmark in her book before setting it on the small table in front of the little nook. She stood up and surveyed the kitchen again with her hands on her hips, making sure she wasn't missing anything. Her eyes flitted across the various alcoholic options arranged on the counter. Aubrey wasn't a big drinker; it wasn't good for your vocal chords and it wasn't good if you wanted to stay in control. But Aubrey was tired of the anxious knot in her stomach and she wanted to loosen up, just a bit.

She grabbed a bottle of cinnamon whiskey and twisted open the top before pouring a double shot into one of the small disposable cups sitting off to the side. She brought the cup to her lips and threw the shot back before she could overthink it, swallowing it quickly with a slight grimace. Aubrey stood there for a few minutes, knowing that whiskey hits her fast but also burns out fast.

It's quite amazing how quickly Aubrey's face flushes when she's been drinking. Aubrey could tell it was already starting because she felt her cheeks burning. She reached out for the bottle again, her hand hesitating just slightly before taking hold and pouring another double shot. She set the cup down, still uncertain, and carefully screwed the top back onto the whisky. _Screw it._ This time when Aubrey drained the cup she didn't grimace.

"Are you starting the party without me?" The unexpected voice made Aubrey yelp and drop her empty cup before spinning around, one hand reaching out to the counter to steady her from stumbling and the other moving to cover her heart. Stacie stood there casually with her head tilted, a lopsided smile on her lips.

"You scared the livin' daylights out of me," Aubrey breathed out. She could feel her heart hammering against the hand on her chest.

For the first time ever, Stacie heard the slight lilt of a southern accent in Aubrey's words. She wanted to figure out where it came from; she wanted to hear it again.

The brunette chuckled softly. "Sorry about that."

Stacie walked towards the counter and looked at the bottles, easily grabbing the one Aubrey had chosen, and poured herself what had to be a triple shot. She turned to look at Aubrey, taking in her extra rosy cheeks and noticing her hand was still over her heart. Stacie lifted her cup slightly away from her in the motion of a toast and winked at Aubrey before easily emptying her cup as if she was drinking water.

"You're early," Aubrey observed when she finally found her voice.

Stacie looked at Aubrey intently for a second, making the blonde suddenly feel a little too exposed. As if reading her mind, Stacie looked away and casually strolled around the kitchen, taking an inventory of what was there. "Chloe asked me and Beca to come early to help set up." Stacie hooked a thumb into her pocket and Aubrey's eyes took in her tight shirt with ample cleavage and her tighter jeans. "But it looks like things are good to go here." Stacie smirked at Aubrey before she turned to take a seat at the small table by the window.

Aubrey felt rooted in place as she had watched Stacie saunter around her kitchen. She didn't know what to do or how to act. She turned to straighten the already straight bottles of alcohol. She tightened the cap on the whisky that was already half gone.

"Are you reading this?" The difference in Stacie's tone made Aubrey turn towards her. Her voice sounded light and bright, like an awed girl, instead of the low, casual-cool tone she had been using before.

Aubrey found herself moving towards the nook as she watched Stacie pick up the book. The brunette turned her head towards Aubrey with questioning eyes and Aubrey realized she hadn't answered her. Her head was spinning a bit.

Aubrey nodded and sat next to Stacie at the table. "Mhm, yeah."

"This is crazy! I'm reading this book right now too!" Stacie's tone was equal parts disbelief and giddy excitement as she grinned at Aubrey. Aubrey found herself smiling back, unable to help it.

Stacie flipped through Aubrey's worn copy of Atlas Shrugged until she got to where Aubrey had placed her bookmark. "Hey, we're even about in the same place. Wow. This is really crazy."

Aubrey was watching Stacie's hands flip through the book. Her cheeks felt so hot. Her brain took a second to catch up with what was happening and she realized she should probably say something, anything.

"How are you liking it so far?" Aubrey asked, twirling the ring on her index finger. Stacie glanced up at the blonde. Aubrey didn't seem as surprised as Stacie by this incredible coincidence. There are millions upon millions of books in the world! What were the odds? Stacie tilted her head and regarded Aubrey carefully. Her rosy cheeks reminded Stacie that she had been drinking when Stacie found her and the brunette didn't know how much she had before. Stacie shrugged off her wonderment about the lack of reaction in favor of thinking about the fact that she actually had Aubrey in front of her, talking to her.

"It's really intriguing so far. I like reading it, it has my attention, but I don't know how to feel about what I'm reading yet. Does that make sense?" Stacie scrunched her nose.

Aubrey nodded. "Do you think you need to agree with a book's philosophy to enjoy the book?"

Stacie watched Aubrey twirl the ring around her finger before looking up to meet her eyes. "That's… not something I've ever thought about before." Aubrey could see Stacie's mind working so she waited patiently. The brunette shook her head slowly. "No, I don't suppose I'd need to agree. If it got me thinking, truly thinking, well, wouldn't that be the point?"

A faint smile ghosted Aubrey's lips. Her face was flushed and her eyes were slightly glossy but she was still present with Stacie. She leaned toward the brunette and whispered, "Keep reading."

Stacie leaned in too. She lowered her voice but she wasn't quite sure why. "Have you read this before?" Stacie's eyes flicked down to Aubrey's mouth when the older girl's tongue briefly wet her lips.

Aubrey leaned closer and Stacie sucked in a breath, absurdly thinking that the Bella leader was going to kiss her, but Aubrey just stretched her arm and slid the book out of Stacie's loose grasp, pulling it towards herself. Aubrey trailed her fingers across the front of the book. "This is one of my very favorite books."

Stacie almost missed Aubrey's words because she was too focused on the beauty of the girl in front of her. Stacie didn't often have the opportunity to be able to closely scrutinize Aubrey's face and she wanted to memorize every detail. She felt Aubrey looking at her but it took her a second to finish her complete scan before she brought her gaze to Aubrey's eyes; eyes that she couldn't quite find the words to describe, the color of something she couldn't quite seem to name. Aubrey held the eye contact almost defiantly and time seemed suspended for a moment.

Aubrey broke their gaze when the doorbell rang. She blinked several times before standing and moving away from the table. The alcohol buzz had gotten her through the interaction relatively unscathed but she could feel it fading away and with it, the little courage she had.

Stacie watched Aubrey back out of the kitchen, hugging her book to her stomach, before ducking out and going down the hallway. The brunette crossed the room to the entrance of the kitchen and peered down the hallway after her. She watched Aubrey slip into a door at the end of the hall and made a mental note of what she assumed was the blonde's bedroom before she was suddenly tackled out of nowhere by Fat Amy.

"Legs! Let's get this party started." Fat Amy rubbed her hands together while she looked at her drink options. "Want me to make you somethin'?"

Stacie knew a drink from Fat Amy was dangerous. Her gaze flicked down the hall to the still closed door at the end before turning to Fat Amy with a big smile. "Hit me with the best you got."

* * *

Stacie didn't see Aubrey emerge from the room but a while later she spotted her seated at the end of the couch in the living room, talking casually with Chloe and Cynthia Rose. Stacie grinned when the ginger got up and left the space next to Aubrey open.

Aubrey's head was turned to her right, still talking to Cynthia Rose who was on the other couch, when she felt the cushion shift beneath her. She turned as a thigh pressed against her own and met Stacie's amused eyes. Stacie held out a cup to her.

Aubrey took the cup instinctually and noticed Stacie had one of her own. Aubrey ignored the tiny somersault her stomach did thinking Stacie got the extra drink just for her.

Aubrey smiled and realized a few beats too late that she was staring into Stacie's eyes. She cleared her throat and looked down at the clearish peach liquid in her cup. "What is this?"

Stacie laughed. "I have no idea. Fat Amy made it. I can only taste the alcohol; I think there are several kinds." Stacie brought the cup to her lips and took a sip. The brunette swayed slightly and her shoulder pressed against Aubrey.

"How many of these have you had?" Aubrey searched Stacie's face, quickly bringing her eyes back to her drink when Stacie bit her lip.

Stacie chuckled lowly; Aubrey's ears picked up on the sound even though it could barely be heard over the music. Aubrey was beginning to love that sound. She felt her cheeks warm.

"I've just started my second," Stacie said, bringing Aubrey back to the moment. Stacie lightly pushed against the bottom of Aubrey's cup to bring it closer to the blonde's lips. "Try it."

Aubrey quirked an eyebrow. "Peer pressure isn't cool Stacie."

Stacie dropped her hand and Aubrey watched her eyes widen while she started shaking her head. "No, you don't - I mean, you totally don't have to…"

Stacie stopped floundering when Aubrey chuckled; there was a teasing glint in the blonde's eyes as she brought the cup to her lips and took a gulp that Stacie immediately knew she was going to regret. The brunette felt Aubrey literally shudder against her as she swallowed the liquid before the blonde leaned forward coughing. Stacie laughed loudly and reached out to pat Aubrey's back.

"This is… disgusting!" Aubrey sputtered. She became keenly aware of Stacie's hand, which had transitioned from patting her back to rubbing light circles. Aubrey wanted to lean into the touch but instead took another gulp of the liquid.

"Stop drinking it then!" Stacie laughed as she took a sip of her own drink. She watched in a sort of impressed awe when instead of stopping Aubrey finished her drink in a few more swigs.

"Stacie!" Both Stacie and Aubrey turned to the voice and watched Beca march across the room towards them, closely followed by Chloe. Aubrey felt Stacie's hand leave her back.

"Hey Becs!" Stacie grinned. She started to take another sip of her drink but Beca took it out of her hand. "Hey," Stacie whined with a pout, reaching to take the drink back.

"What happened to not drinking tonight?" Beca passed the cup to Chloe and out of the reach of Stacie.

"Aubrey started drinking before anyone was even here!"

"Aubrey isn't the one who told me not let her drink tonight, is she?" Beca turned to Aubrey. "Are you drunk?"

Aubrey's eyes narrowed. "That's none of your business. I don't need a babysitter."

Beca rolled her eyes. "Don't let her drink anymore." Beca left without another word. Chloe looked back and forth between Aubrey and Stacie a few times before turning to follow Beca.

"Why didn't you want to drink tonight?" Aubrey asked, her head swimming slightly as the alcohol started to work its way through her system.

Stacie leaned in closer to Aubrey. "I don't even remember," Stacie murmured. "Sober Stacie makes questionable decisions."

Aubrey leaned in too. "Are you sure it isn't because Drunk Stacie makes questionable decisions?" she teased. Stacie shrugged, smiling. Aubrey's eyes went to Stacie's mouth. "You have a pretty smile." She hadn't meant to say it out loud.

Stacie's smile widened into a grin. "Oh, is that so?" Aubrey nodded almost absentmindedly before her eyes snapped away from Stacie towards the kitchen where something had just crashed.

"It's hot in here. Isn't it hot in here?" Aubrey stood up quickly, the sudden shift in cushions causing Stacie to topple slightly into the space Aubrey had just been occupying. By the time Stacie had righted herself, she'd lost sight of where the blonde went.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is doing okay is this weird, scary time - and taking all the precautions necessary and recommended. I'm an essential employee so this has been a bit stressful (as it is for everyone) and I haven't been able to escape into my mind like I normally can. I'm hoping to get back into my groove soon. And I'm wishing everyone, everywhere health - mind and body. Hope this story can make you escape for just a bit if you need it.

When Stacie finally found Aubrey, the blonde was outside on the back deck, sitting on a bench swing with her hands gripping the edge of the seat on either side of her thighs and her head tilted up to look at the sky. It was dark and chilly out but the sky was clear, some of the brighter stars popping out despite city lights, and the moon was bright.

Aubrey looked over when she heard the sliding glass door to the deck open, not surprised that the brunette found her. Stacie smiled at her and the sight tugged at her heart. Aubrey didn't want to examine what that meant.

Stacie looked up at the almost full moon. "I love the night sky," she said in almost a sigh.

Aubrey looked back up. "Yeah, me too."

It was quiet, the light bass of the music from inside the house the only thing they could hear. The bench swayed slightly when Stacie sat down next Aubrey. The brunette turned her attention to Aubrey's profile, scrutinizing her slightly before asking, "You okay?"

Aubrey took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Mhm," she hummed. "Just needed some fresh air for a second."

Stacie nodded and looked around the deck, noticing the string of lights that would have provided illumination had they been on and then glanced beyond to the backyard, spying a hammock in the shadows. It seemed like a perfect place to spend a warm evening, just before sunset. "It's nice out here."

Aubrey smiled lightly, keeping her eyes lifted to the sky. "There are lots of good spots to read."

"What was the last book you read?" Stacie asked. "That wasn't school related - besides Atlas Shrugged," she added, bumping her shoulder against Aubrey's lightly. There was genuine curiosity in her tone and Aubrey knew she wasn't just asking to fill the silence.

Aubrey turned her head and looked at the younger girl next to her. With her jawline and cheekbones illuminated, and her eyes bare of their playful haughtiness, Stacie was achingly beautiful in the moonlight. Aubrey felt her heart beat faster.

Aubrey looked away from Stacie, her eyes falling down to where her hand was gripping the bench. "To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf."

"I've never read anything by Virginia Woolf," Stacie mused. "Would you recommend it?" She shifted and placed her hands on either sides of her thighs in the same position as Aubrey.

Aubrey looked thoughtful for a second. "She's hard to read. Most people either love her or hate her, or pretend to love her even though they hate her, there's really no in between. This piece was particularly difficult - and honestly sort of frustrating - but I liked it in the end, I think."

"Difficult in what way?"

Stacie watched her carefully as Aubrey pursed her lips in thought. "It takes every bit of your concentration to read it. Most of the story, well.. It unfolds in shifting perspectives of each of the different character's consciousness but the shifts happen fast and aren't defined so it's difficult to keep track of whose mind you're in or even what's being thought about sometimes. It's one of those books where you sort of have to just let it take you instead of getting frustrated by all you don't understand." She laughed lightly. "That wasn't very easy for me. But it's a beautiful book. Her writing is… almost lyrical."

"Lyrical?"

Aubrey could feel Stacie's eyes on her but her own were still fixed on her hand and, now, how close their hands were to each other since Stacie put hers down. She watched Stacie's pinkie twitch and brush against her own. Aubrey closed her eyes and took a breath before opening them and finding the moon again.

"I'm not sober enough for this." She laughed for a second before she began speaking slowly, quietly, reciting part of the book from memory. " _For now she need not think of anybody. She could be herself, by herself. And that was what now she often felt the need of - to think; well not even to think. To be silent; to be alone. All the being and the doing, expansive, glittering, vocal, evaporated…_ "

Stacie lost herself as she listened to Aubrey, completely absorbed not just by the words but by her tone, pace and cadence. They both jumped when the door into the house suddenly slid open and music filtered out, ending the peace of their moment.

"Found 'em!" Fat Amy called back inside. "You guys are too late to be my partner, I've been spoken for."

"What are you talking about?" Stacie asked.

"Whatever game the ginger is making us play."

* * *

Aubrey entered her living room to find the Bellas strewn about in some semblance of a circle but clearly paired up - each pair sharing a small dry erase board. On the coffee table in the middle sat another board with name pairings listed and Aubrey leaned over to read the list before turning to Chloe. "Staubrey?" Aubrey quirked an eyebrow.

"It coulda been Chaubrey but you were nowhere to be found so now you're stuck with Stacie." The mischievous glint in Chloe's eye told Aubrey that she would have probably found a way for her to be 'stuck' with Stacie either way, if for no other reason than so she could be part of 'Bechloe'. Aubrey rolled her eyes.

Stacie walked past Aubrey to the other side of the living room and plopped down on the love seat next to Beca. Aubrey watched as Stacie moved closer and closer into Beca's personal space until the smaller girl stood up with a huff to move away. Stacie grinned triumphantly and when she noticed Aubrey was watching her, she patted the small area next to her and reached out with her other hand to snag a dry erase board.

Aubrey shook her head and chuckled as she made her way to the love seat and sat down. Stacie scooted closer to Aubrey as she curled her legs beneath her; her body pressed up against Aubrey's side. The brunette held out the dry erase board for Aubrey to take.

Aubrey shook her head. "There's no way I'm taking that until I know what it's being used for." Aubrey called out across the room, "Chloe, let's get this started already. What are we doing?"

Chloe took out her phone and turned down the music just slightly. "Okay everyone! We're going to play a trivia game." Chloe held up a narrow rectangular box that still had the plastic wrap around it. "It's unopened so you know I didn't memorize any of the cards beforehand. So basically I'll just read out the questions and you can pool your knowledge with your partner's and write your best answer down. The answers are on the backs of the cards so I can read the questions and still play. For every one your pair answers correctly, you'll get a tally and whoever gets to a certain number of right answers first, wins!"

"What do we win?" Cynthia Rose called out.

Chloe clearly hadn't thought that far ahead. She paused, thinking, before her eyes lit up and she grinned. "How about the pair that wins doesn't have to participate in cardio for the entire week?"

"Aca-scuse me?" Aubrey said indignantly over the cheers of the group.

"Whoop this just got interesting," Fat Amy said, taking over the dry erase board for her duo.

"No way, Chlo. These girls _need_ cardio and a week break is too long. Time is of the essence here."

"Then I guess you'll have to make sure you win, won't you?" Chloe challenged.

Aubrey's jaw set and her eyes narrowed in determination. Stacie was already handing over the dry erase board before Aubrey could even make a move to reach for it, knowing there was no chance the Bella leader would relinquish control, especially with the stakes so incredibly high. Stacie bit her lip to keep from grinning about the fact that the blonde truly thought this was high stakes.

The group decided on the number of correct answers a pair would need to get to win and also decided that the winning margin had to be by at least two. A time limit was set and everyone had to put their phones face down on the coffee table.

"Ready? Okay." Chloe ripped off the plastic wrap and opened the box, taking a second to orient it to the correct side she would need to pull from to get the question side instead of the answer side. She picked a random card in the middle of the deck and cleared her throat to ask the first question. "Oh shoot, I forgot there's categories." Chloe picked up the lid of the box and turned it over to find a spinning wheel stuck on the inside cover. She peeled it off and placed it on the table. "Okay, I guess we can just take turns spinning the wheel?"

"Are there actual rules to this game or are you just making them up?" Aubrey asked dryly.

"I'm modifying to suit our needs! Jessica and Ashley, you guys can spin first."

One of the girls (honestly no one knew which one) leaned forward from her seat on the floor to flick the spinner. When it stopped, she read out, "Pop Culture!"

Chloe cleared her throat again and held up the card, making sure to cover the back so no one could see the answers even though the print was small. "Who won the first season of American Idol?"

Aubrey scrawled Kelly Clarkson across the board but, unsurprisingly, it turned out everyone knew the answer to that question. After a few more questions from different categories were asked, Aubrey huffed. "You're not supposed to keep using the same card. Pick a different one, these ones are too easy."

"I don't think the cards are based on difficulty level; I think they're all the same," Chloe pointed out but discarded the card she was holding and picked a new one. Fat Amy spun and landed on Literature and Arts.

"What was the most common way Shakespeare killed his characters, accounting for over half of all character deaths?"

Aubrey put the tip of her marker on the board and paused for a second, thinking. Stacie rested her chin on Aubrey's shoulder to peer at the board and normally, if it had been anyone else, this would have annoyed Aubrey to the point of shrugging the person away but she found herself not minding the closeness. It felt sort of intimate in a weird way. It was also incredibly distracting Aubrey thought when she realized she still hadn't answered the question. She wrote out her answer and heard Stacie hum softly. Stacie hadn't offered up any responses yet but Aubrey doubted she hadn't known at least one of the answers so far.

"Okay, time!" Chloe flipped the card over. She couldn't seem to decide between telling them the answer and having them react or making them turn over their boards so she could see who was right. She chose at random after each question. "Most of Shakespeare's characters died by stabbing."

Groans came from a few pairs as they all turned over their boards and Aubrey was surprised that most of the other groups thought the right answer was poison.

"Does 'knife fights' count?" Fat Amy asked, turning over her board to reveal she hadn't even written the answer, she'd just drawn two stick figures with knives in their hands.

Aubrey opened her mouth to answer but Beca beat her. "Forget knife fights - drawings don't count. You have to write the answer." Beca held up her hand to cut off Fat Amy's protests. "Also, no, 'knife fights' doesn't count. That's too specific, not all the stabbings were due to duels or knife fights." Aubrey looked at Beca's board and was surprised to see the correct answer was written there.

"Okay, Stacie and Aubrey. You're up."

Stacie made no attempt to move or let Aubrey move. "Jashley? Jessley? Ashlica? Whatever your combo name is, can one of you spin for us? I'm too comfy." Stacie leaned into Aubrey just slightly and Aubrey found herself leaning back, butterflies swarming her stomach.

"Science!" Chloe said when the spinner stopped. She picked a new card. "Okay. There's a consensus among scientists that this phenomenon occurs when there is a split second delay between transferring information from one side of your brain to the other."

Everyone collectively paused. Pairs started murmuring together, the music drowning out all potential cheating. Aubrey asked Chloe to repeat the statement. Stacie watched Aubrey's brow furrow. They were running out of time and she hadn't written anything yet.

Aubrey felt Stacie's chin pivot on her shoulder and she was so focused on the brunette's lips turning in closer to her that she missed what Stacie said. She turned her face slightly, Stacie was so distractingly close, and gave her a questioning look. Stacie cupped Aubrey's ear and murmured, "Déjà vu?"

It was a question, not a statement, as if Stacie wasn't positive about the answer but the second Aubrey heard it, her eyes lit up. "You're a genius, that makes perfect sense!" Stacie was glad Aubrey couldn't see her cheeks turn slightly pink. She focused on the blonde's hand moving across the board as she quickly wrote the answer, impressed, even though she knew she shouldn't have been, that Aubrey correctly placed both an acute accent over the e and a grave accent over the a in the word déjà.

Stacie's breath hitched after Chloe read out the answer and Aubrey turned to grin at her excitedly because they were the only ones that got the answer right and it pulled them into the lead by a winning margin. She knew Aubrey noticed her reaction but she couldn't even let herself be embarrassed about it because then Aubrey looked away and leaned into her and she was too busy trying to breathe normally.

"We're gonna win," Aubrey said smugly so only Stacie could hear. Stacie let out a low chuckle and rested her chin back on the blonde's shoulder. She didn't know if her mind was playing tricks on her but she thought she felt Aubrey's breathing change slightly. What Stacie did know, though, was that she was in big trouble here.

Stacie was pulled from her thoughts as Beca spun the wheel and landed on Pop Culture. Everyone seemed pleased except Aubrey, not because she wasn't comfortable with her knowledge in the category but because the others seemed comfortable too and she wanted to win.

Chloe picked a card and read out, "What was the first movie to ever release a soundtrack?"

Stacie was relieved when Aubrey started writing immediately because she had no idea what the answer was and she didn't want to disappoint. Stacie focused on the marker gliding across the board and she felt a little silly about it but she loved watching Aubrey write. Her handwriting was fluid and girly but somehow also efficient and so very practical which just seemed so _Aubrey_.

Aubrey was right with her answer of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but so was team Bechloe. Aubrey's eyes narrowed. She did not count on Beca and Chloe getting so many answers right. She and Stacie were still winning by enough of a margin - they just needed to maintain their lead until they got to the winning number. But it would only take one right answer from Bechloe at the same time as a wrong answer from Staubrey for their winning margin to vanish.

When the spinner stopped again it landed on History. Chloe read out loud, "What famous person's body was stolen after death and held for ransom?" Chloe put the card down and made a face. "Ew, what?"

Stacie lifted her head for a second and watched as Aubrey's brow furrowed. She turned questioning eyes to Stacie but the brunette could only shrug. Aubrey's mind raced but she knew it was useless. This wasn't a question she thought she once knew the answer to and it was just a matter of remembering it. She knew she didn't know. She looked over to Chloe and Beca and felt better when it seemed like they were struggling too.

The timer went off with their board still blank. Chloe turned the card over and read the answer. "Charlie Chaplin." She looked up from the card and her eyes went from group to group, all boards blank until Fat Amy turned hers over with the correct answer there.

"Dude, why do you know that?" Beca asked.

"My knowledge is vast like the ocean." Fat Amy shrugged. Her voice rose in pitch, "Orrr Lilly might have helped with this one. Who's to say?" The girls looked to Lilly who mouthed something that none of them could possibly hear.

Chloe slowly shook her head. "Okay then." She looked to Cynthia Rose to spin the wheel for the next category.

The game went on, with Stacie providing a particularly nice assist by knowing that Picasso has the longest name of any artist and Aubrey pulling out of her mind that the acronym OMG was first used in a letter to Winston Churchill in 1917, until Stacie and Aubrey were only one right answer away from winning. Beca flicked the spinner and both she and Aubrey simultaneously groaned slightly when it landed on Science. Stacie bit her lip.

Chloe closed her eyes and ran her fingers across the cards until she found the perfect spot to stop. She pulled the card out and read it to herself. "Well, I suppose this is the best we could hope for if we need to guess."

"Care to share with the class here, Chloe?" Aubrey called out impatiently.

"Oh, right." Chloe cleared her throat. "What is the only letter that doesn't appear on the periodic table of elements?"

Stacie stilled, wanting to see what Aubrey came up with. The blonde wasn't going to take a chance at being overheard, even though it didn't matter if everyone else also got the answer correct because they would still win. She wrote "Q" followed by several question marks. Stacie shook her head just slightly and put her hand over Aubrey's to guide it into writing, "J".

"But what has this in it?" Aubrey asked, pointing to her Q.

"Ununquadium," Stacie said quietly.

"I have literally never heard of that."

Stacie laughed. "It's just a temporary name. Element one - one - four. Un - un - quad. Ununquadium."

"That shouldn't count!" Aubrey said indignantly.

Stacie smiled. "No, probably not. But this," Stacie pointed at the J, "is not even on the table temporarily."

Stacie quickly swiped her hand over the board to erase the Q along with the question marks and Aubrey was about to protest until she heard the timer go off and realized Stacie had just saved them from having two answers on their board.

"Aubrey." Chloe turned to her after taking a look at the answer. "This is for the win. Whatcha got?"

"What's the answer?" Aubrey asked without turning her board.

"Show us your board first so there's no cheating."

Aubrey huffed out an annoyed breath. "Chloe, I love your faith in me but I can't change the answer on my board with my mind." Chloe lifted her eyebrows. Aubrey rolled her eyes and spun her board around.

The group looked from the board back to Chloe. The redhead sighed. "Wear your cardio clothes all week, ladies." The group groaned.

"Except for Stacie," Cynthia Rose pointed out.

"You really lucked out, Legs." Fat Amy added.

Aubrey opened her mouth to tell them that actually it was because of Stacie that they won but the brunette quickly elbowed her softly in the side and cut her off. "I know, right?" Stacie leaned back and laced her hands behind her head. "I'm going to enjoy watching each of you struggle," she said smugly.

Aubrey studied the girl next to her for a moment and wondered why Stacie was so okay with everyone underestimating her all the time. No one knew how smart Stacie was and it seemed that it wasn't even that she just didn't mind them thinking she was dumb but that she wanted it that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're pretending Element 114 still had its temporary name when this scene took place but it was actually named Flerovium in 2011.
> 
> P.S. Comments make me write faster. That's just science.


End file.
